Bars & Breweries

Great Divide Brewing’s cozy, but often cramped, tap room will double in size this month, just in time for the Great American Beer Festival…

The third time was the charm for Bryan Dayton, owner of Boulder’s Oak at Fourteenth, which is currently being rebuilt after a spring fire: In his third national cocktail competition of the year, the bartender bested 47 other top-notch professionals from across the country to take home the grand prize:…

It took fourteen breweries to collaborate on Buddha Nuvo — one of the most unusual beers ever made in Colorado — so it seems only fair then that a review of this beer should include just as many beer loving bloggers, and then some…

Kids wait for candy around Halloween. Adults — at least the big-beer-loving kind — well, they wait for Rumpkin, Avery Brewing’s tricky barrel-aged treat. And this year, they’ll be able to fill their spooky buckets and pillowcases with bottles…

Jake Norris was there from the start of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, so when he left last month — eight months after the Colorado-based company was sold to Proximo Spirits — it got a lot of people in the liquor community talking. Norris himself talked last week, as did Rob Dietrich,…

Denver just can’t seem to quench its thirst for craft beer. After just five months in business, the owners of Copper Kettle Brewing have already pumped up their beer-making capacity by adding two ten-barrel fermenters to the three three-barrel tanks they already had – an expansion of about 166 percent…

The Keg Steakhouse and Bar, 1890 Wynkoop Street, 303-296-0023 The Hours: Monday through Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. The Deals: $3 beers; $4 small plates; $5 martinis and margaritas; $6 wines by the glass Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…

Last month, after Jake Norris left Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, the homegrown company that was” target=”_blank”> sold late last year to Proximo Spirits, Rob Dietrich was named head distiller. After I chatted with Jake Norris about why he left, I decided it was important to talk with Dietrich. And in an…

The Blue Moon Brewing Company @ the Sandlot has been Denver’s most unusual brewery since it debuted inside Coors field in 1995. Only open to the public during baseball season, and only to Rockies ticket holders during games, the brewery actually runs year-round, making Blue Moon and other seasonal beers…

Late last year Proximo Spirits, distributors of 1800 Tequila, Kraken Rum, Three Olives Vodka, Hangar One and other labels, purchased Denver’s homegrown brand, Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey. Once the sale was complete, original owners Jess Graber and George Stranahan moved on; head distiller Jake Norris stayed with the company. But in…

With Labor Day behind us and summer’s sun-soaked days and sizzling temperatures vanishing before our eyes, we aren’t traditionally all that psyched to welcome the month of September with open arms. This year, though, we’re seeing things differently, given the tantalizing array of wine events around the state in the…

Oskar Blues is one of the fastest-growing craft brewers in Colorado and makes some of the most sought-after, buzzworthy beers in the country. The Longmont brewery started the canned craft beer revolution in 2002, and it still leads the way in the market…

Last May, while Denver Beer Co, 1695 Platte Street, was still in the planning stages, owners Charlie Berger and Patrick Crawford bought more than a hundred baby hops plants and gave them out to anyone who was willing to grow them in their back yards as part of an urban…

Colorado’s bartenders keep upping our state’s cocktail credibility, competing in national contests and besting some of the country’s most formidable spirits professionals to bring big prizes home to the Rocky Mountains. The latest accolade? Burton Daniel, a bartender at Boulder’s Bitter Bar, out-crafted 250 of his peers nationwide to land…

Jake Norris, head distiller and an original partner, left Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey last month. The brand was purchased late last year by Proximo Spirits, distributor of big brands like 1800 Tequila, Kraken Rum and Three Olives Vodka; after the sale, Norris said he planned to stay on…for a while. Norris…

Dry Dock Brewing is getting ready to bottle its next seasonal beer, a whiskey-barrel-aged version of its HMS Bounty called Bligh’s Barleywine Ale, and brewery founder Kevin DeLange says it’s going to blow people out of the water…

Growing up in New Jersey, I was a punk-rock kid. I started with Iggy and the Stooges, the Ramones and the Clash, and moved on to Bad Brains, Fear, the Misfits, early Bad Religion, then into NY hardcore, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, etc. As the ’80s progressed, so did my…

Happy Place: Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizzeria, 2129 Larimer Street, 303-296-7000 The Happy Hours: Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. The Deals: $3 draft beers, $4 wines by the glass, $5 specialty cocktails, $5 appetizers. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…

After serving alcohol to a minor three times in three months, Se7en, the Asian fusion restaurant located in the Beauvallon, has been slapped with a 25-day suspension of its liquor license. Rather than going nearly a month without selling alcohol, the restaurant has opted to stretch the sentence out, going…

German beer makers like rules. They like them so much that in 1516, the state of Bavaria imposed the Reinheitsgebot, the beer purity law that prohibited using anything but water, barley and hops in brewing the national beverage. And while Reinheitsgebot (which is no longer in effect) is fun to…

With Labor Day right around the corner, summer is officially drawing to a close. But there are still lots of warm, languid evenings to look forward to before we say hello to fall. And while you’ve clearly figured out that porch pounders are the perfect early evening sipper on a…

For the past five years, Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe owners James and Tina Pachorek have been showing Coloradans the Belgian specialty beers, some of which had rarely, if ever, been chugged in this square state. On Friday, the Belgians will honor James (what, no female knights?) for his service…